The Heavenly Sword & the Dragon Sabre – Chapter 29 – Part 4

The Persian Three Messengers recovered the Holy Fire Tablets and gave chase, but their qinggong¹ fell far short of Zhang Wuji's, and was poor beside Xie Xun's as well. As Zhang Wuji neared the ship, he called out loudly, “The Commandery Princess² orders: weigh anchor! All hands, prepare to sail at once!” By the time he and Xie Xun leapt onto the bow, the sails were already set. The helmsman awaited Zhao Min's personal command before acting. She had lost too much blood and could only murmur, “Obey... obey Young Master Zhang's orders...” The helmsman put the wheel over and the ship got under way. By the time the Persian Three Messengers reached the shore, the vessel was already several hundred feet from land.

Zhang Wuji laid Zhao Min and Yin Li side by side in the cabin, with Xiaozhao assisting. They loosened the two women’s clothes to expose the wounds. Examining them, Zhang Wuji saw that Zhao Min’s sword-cut on her lower abdomen was some half an inch deep. Though she had bled heavily, her life was certainly not in danger. Yin Li’s three golden flowers had all struck vital points. Golden Flower Granny³ had struck with extreme force, and whether she could be saved was uncertain. He dressed both their wounds. Yin Li had long since lost consciousness. Zhao Min’s eyes swam with tears. When Zhang Wuji asked how she felt, she only gritted her teeth and did not answer.

Xie Xun said, “Young Xia Zeng,⁴ I have lived a life apart from the world. That I should unexpectedly return to the Central Plains and make the acquaintance of so loyal a friend as yourself is a joy beyond all expectation.”

Zhang Wuji settled him in a chair in the cabin, dropped to the ground and kowtowed, crying, “Sworn Father, your unfilial son Wuji failed to come sooner to fetch you, and caused you to suffer so greatly.” Xie Xun was astonished. His voice trembled as he said, “You… you say your name is…”

“I am Zhang Wuji.”

How could Xie Xun believe it? He could only say, “You… you say you are who?”

Zhang Wuji said, “The way of fist-cultivation lies in concentrating the spirit. The intent leads the force, and only then may one prevail…” He recited the words without pause, each one a martial secret Xie Xun had taught him on Fire and Ice Island.⁵ At the time Xie Xun had thought there was no time for practice, and told him to memorise the essential formulas alone. After he had recited some twenty-odd lines, Xie Xun’s joy and astonishment mingled together. He seized Zhang Wuji’s arms and said, “You… you truly are my Wuji, my boy?”

Zhang Wuji rose and embraced him, recounting the vital events since their parting. He did not yet speak of his having become Ming Order Leader, lest his sworn father, observing the Order’s hierarchy, should defer to him in rank. Xie Xun felt as though he dreamed. There was nothing now but to believe, and he could only repeat, over and over, “Heaven has opened its eyes. Heaven has opened its eyes!”

Suddenly the sailors at the stern cried out, “An enemy ship gives chase!”

Zhang Wuji ran to the stern and looked. Far away, a great ship with all five sails spread was pursuing them on the wind. In the darkness the hull could not be made out, but the five white sails were stark against the night. Zhang Wuji watched for a while and saw that the enemy ship, with its many sails and light hull, was steadily drawing closer. Anxiety seized him, and he did not know what to do. He thought that the only course was to let the Persian Three Messengers board and fight them in the cabin, where the narrow confines would prevent the three from combining their strength. He moved Zhao Min and Yin Li to one side, went up to the deck, and hauled down two great iron anchors, setting them in the cabin as obstacles to force the Persian Three Messengers to fight each alone.

He had barely finished arranging this when, with a tremendous crash, the ship heaved violently to one side. A moment later seawater cascaded from above and poured into the cabin.

The sailors at the stern were shouting, “The enemy ship has fired! The enemy ship has fired!” The shot had struck the ship’s side, but had luckily missed.

Zhao Min beckoned to Zhang Wuji and whispered, “We have cannons too!”

This reminded Zhang Wuji at once. He ran up to the deck and directed the sailors to remove the masking from the guns, load powder and iron shot, and light the fuse. With a boom, a shot roared back at the enemy. But these sailors were all warriors of Zhao Min’s in disguise. Though their martial arts were not weak, they knew nothing of gunnery or sea-fighting. The shot fell between the two ships, sending a column of water thirty feet high, yet the enemy ship did not so much as shudder. But now the enemy, seeing that this ship carried cannons, dared not approach too closely. Before long the enemy fired again, this time striking the bow squarely, and the ship at once caught fire.

Zhang Wuji hurriedly directed the sailors to fetch water and douse the flames, when he saw a second fire break out in the upper cabin. Bucket of water in each hand, he kicked open the cabin door and poured the water in, quenching the blaze. Through the smoke he saw a woman lying on the berth. It was Zhou Zhiruo, soaked through and through. Zhang Wuji set down the buckets and rushed in, asking, “Miss Zhou, are you unharmed?”

Zhou Zhiruo’s hair and face were drenched, her appearance wretched. In the very midst of peril, seeing him appear so suddenly, joy and astonishment both crossed her face. Her hands stirred, and a clanking of chains sounded: Golden Flower Granny had bound her hands and feet with iron shackles. Zhang Wuji ran below and fetched the Heavenly Jian,⁶ with which he cut through the shackles.

Zhou Zhiruo said, “Order Leader Zhang, you… how did you come here?” Before Zhang Wuji could answer, the ship shook violently. She lost her footing and fell against his chest. Zhang Wuji caught her. Firelight streamed through the porthole, illuminating her pale cheeks, on which two patches of colour had risen, dotted with tiny drops of water. She looked as delicate and fair as a water-lily in the morning dew. Zhang Wuji steadied himself and said, “Let us go down to the lower cabin.”

They had barely stepped out of the cabin door when they felt the ship spinning in circles. The enemy’s shot had smashed the rudder to splinters, and the helmsman himself had been thrown into the sea and drowned.

The helmsman was desperate. He loaded powder himself and fired, hoping to sink the enemy ship with a single shot. He tamped the powder down with an iron rod, ramming it tight, then elevated the barrel and lit the fuse. Suddenly a red flash, a deafening roar, and the cannon burst to fragments. Fire and shards of iron flew in all directions. The helmsman and every sailor beside the gun was blown to bloody shreds. In his eagerness for the shot to carry force, the helmsman had loaded several times the proper charge of powder, and the cannon had burst instead.

Zhang Wuji and Zhou Zhiruo had just reached the deck. Fire was everywhere, and there was almost no place to stand. He glimpsed a small boat lashed to the port side and called, “Miss Zhou, jump into the small boat…” At that moment Xiaozhao emerged from below, carrying Yin Li, and Xie Xun followed, carrying Zhao Min. The explosion had split a great hole in the hull, and seawater was rushing in.

Zhang Wuji waited until Zhou Zhiruo, Xie Xun and Xiaozhao had climbed into the small boat, then drew his jian and severed the ropes. The boat dropped into the sea with a splash. Zhang Wuji leapt lightly after them, seized both oars and rowed hard.

The warship was burning fiercely, casting a ruddy glow across the water. Zhang Wuji rowed with all his strength, thinking that so long as he could reach a place beyond the firelight, the Persian Three Messengers would not see the small boat and would suppose them all drowned, and give up the chase. Xie Xun grabbed a plank and helped with the rowing. The small boat skimmed swiftly across the sea and in moments passed beyond the ring of firelight. Behind them the great warship boomed and crashed as the powder on board exploded continuously. The Persian ship dared not approach and kept watch from afar. Some of the warriors Zhao Min had brought could swim, and struck out towards the enemy ship to beg for rescue, but all were shot with arrows from the Persian vessel and drowned.

Zhang Wuji and Xie Xun dared not rest for a moment. Had the Persian Three Messengers caught them on land, they might yet have fought to the death. But here, in the midst of a boundless sea, a single cannon-shot from the enemy ship, even landing thirty feet from the small boat, would raise waves enough to capsize it. Fortunately both men’s neili⁷ was deep and lasting, and they rowed for half the night without tiring.

At dawn the sky was thick with cloud, and a grey mist hung in all directions. Zhang Wuji said with joy, “This fog comes at just the right time. If it holds for another half-day, the enemy will never find us, no matter what.”

But by afternoon a fierce wind rose and rain fell in torrents. The small boat was blown southward. It was the depth of winter, and everyone’s clothes were soaked through. Zhang Wuji and Xie Xun, with their deep neili, felt it little, but Zhou Zhiruo and Xiaozhao, exposed to the north wind, could not stop their teeth from chattering. The small boat carried nothing whatsoever, and there was nothing to be done. By now the wooden oars had been shipped and the four of them, removing their eight shoes, kept bailing the rainwater that had pooled in the hull.

Xie Xun at last had been reunited with Zhang Wuji, and his spirits were exceedingly high. Though their present situation was perilous, he gave it no heed, but cursed the sky and scolded the sea, laughing and talking loudly in the rain. Xiaozhao, though artless and merry, had a deep worry in her brow, which Zhao Min perceived. She supposed it was on account of Zhou Zhiruo’s sudden appearance, a beauty beyond compare. Zhou Zhiruo remained silent throughout. When now and then her gaze met Zhang Wuji’s, she turned away at once.

Xie Xun said, “Wuji, years ago your mother and father and I took ship across the sea. We met a storm midway, far worse than this one. We ended up on an iceberg, living off seals. But the wind that day was from the south, and it carried us to the frozen wastes of the far north. Today the wind is from the north. Is Heaven so displeased with Xie Xun that it means to exile me once more, this time to the estate of the Old Man of the South Pole, for another twenty years? Ha ha, ha ha!” He laughed for a while, then went on, “That year your father and mother, one man and one woman, a talented fellow and a beautiful girl, were a match made in Heaven. But you’ve brought along four girls. What is the meaning of that? Every one of those girls cares for you, I know that much. But I can’t see which is the prettiest. Though it doesn’t matter whether they’re pretty or not. What matters is that they’re of good character! Ha ha, ha ha!”

Footnotes

1. 轻功 – qīnggōng. Literally lightness skill. Ability to move with superhuman agility, and weightlessness through qi redistribution to leap over trees and roofs, and skip over water. See Wikipedia. ↩

2. 郡主 – jùnzhǔ. Commandery Princess; a noble title for a princess of a princely peerage, here referring to Zhao Min, daughter of the Prince of Ruyang. ↩

3. 金花婆婆 – Jīnhuā Pópó. Golden Flower Granny; the disguise assumed by Daiqisi, the Purple Dress Dragon King and one of the Ming Order’s four Guardian Kings. ↩

4. 曾阿牛 – Zēng Āniú. His name meaning “Zeng the Ox”. A rustic, unsophisticated alias, chosen deliberately to avoid recognition. ↩

5. 冰火岛 – Bīnghuǒ Dǎo. Fire and Ice Island; the remote volcanic island in the far north where Zhang Cuishan, Yin Susu and Xie Xun were stranded for ten years, and where Zhang Wuji was born and grew up. ↩

6. 倚天剑 – Yǐtiān Jiàn. The Heavenly Jian. The other of the twin legendary weapons forged from Yang Guo’s Heavy Iron Sword. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 内力 – nèilì. Internal force. The kinetic manifestation of qi, cultivated through neigong and deployed in martial arts. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩